Washington, DC to San Francisco, CA in last week of October with 2 labrador retriever

Hi all,

My wife and I are relocating to San Francisco after 6 years in DC. She got a job there and will be flying out there to start, while I follow with our dogs about a month later. Looking for advice as far as the route to take. My father will be joining me to help out with the driving and he's done a similar drive before, but not in late October. I'd like to take a southern route to avoid potential snow and ice in the Rockies. Not sure how much of an issue that is lately. I'll also be traveling with one very vocal labrador retriever and a second very calm labrador retriever, mainly because I don't want to fly them cross country as the expense would be the same and would likely be very traumatic for them.

Not looking to sight see, or take leisurely stops. Looking to get to SF as fast as I can within reason. Any advice on route, timing, stops and hotel/motels that are pet friendly would be a great help! Thanks!

No point going further south.

Hi, and Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum.

DC to SF is a six day trip, five days if you really want to push it. However, with two dogs regular and relatively frequent stops would be more comfortable. Plan it as a marathon. Don't stretch that first and second day, only to be too exhausted to keep it up for the rest of the trip. 500 - 600 miles per day would be a good pace. Considering the needs of the dogs, you may choose towards the lower end of it.

As for pet friendly hotels, have you checked out the RTA hotel search on the right (top) of this page? There is an option to search for pet friendly establishments.

Your quickest and probably best would be to stick with I-70 to CO and I-80 to SF. Plan to have a day up your sleeve lest an early season storm should force you to hole up in a hotel for some hours, or a day. Taking a more southerly route you still need to cross the Rockies, and the southern routes do see the occasional ice and snow. Besides, you would be on the road significantly longer with more chance of seeing adverse weather.

Six Days - More or Less

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

If your main objective is just to get to San Francisco as quickly (and safely) as possible, then you are looking at basically just taking I-80 'all' the way. Such a route would take five days of steady, but not unreasonable driving. To take a significantly 'southern' route, say I-81 to I-40/30/20/10 and then up I-5 to San Francisco, would take six such days. You're probably better off taking the I-80 route and holding that sixth day in reserve in case you run into winter weather. If you don't, you'll get to San Francisco a day earlier than you possibly could by going south.

However, I wouldn't just head for I-80 in Ohio (the way most software mapping routines will send you), I'd stick with I-70 to Kansas City to avoid all the tolls in PA, OH, IN, and IL. That would also entail using I-68/I-79 in western MD and southwestern PA as well as taking I-29 north from KC to Nebraska City and then using NE-2 to connect with I-80 at Lincoln.

Here are some tips on choosing pet-friendly motels, and some suggestions for places along the way to give the dogs some exercise.

I am currently with cousins who regularly travel with 2 dogs, albeit Boston terriers (considerably smaller than retrievers).

Motel 6 is about the most consistent in accepting pets, without the humongous charges that some places make. La Quinta is also pet-friendly. There are a few motels that they've encountered that charge $100 extra for dogs, so be careful and ask about charges when you make reservations. They highly suggest reservations when you travel with pets because you may get there and find out that the establishment no longer has any "pets-allowed" rooms available.

Both, at separate establishments. One was trying to deter people with pets so it was an out-and-out charge of $100. My cousin went elsewhere. Other places want to put a hold on your credit card of about that much, to ensure that the dog does not damage anything. Then when you check out and there's no damage, they release that charge -- in their own good time.

For road condition and traffic ,I-70 to Denver and I-25 to Cheyenne wyo Then I-80 to SF.If you have laptop computer it's good to book rooms in advance so you know you have one.I use tripadvisor to check hotels for rating.REDROOF INNS offer pets free. Most others charge so make sure you ask and how much/also some only allow one pet and restrict size.